Low
Limit No Limit Part 3:
The Wildman at the Low Limit No Limit
Table
BY:
Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud
You've
seen him. He may not have shaggy hair,
a long beard and ferocious looking eyes.
But he's easy to spot. He's the wildman.
Every low limit no limit table that I've
played has one -at least for a short while.
He plays fast and furious. He goes all
in with Aces and with nothing. He doesn't
seem to care at all about losing or even
about winning. He's about action. And
he may be insane when it comes to cards.
I
played in a game just the other night.
I had pocket Jacks in early position.
The blinds were $2/4. The buy-in was limited
to $100. Naturally, I raised. I raised
to $20 I think - a bit on the heavy side
for these blinds but I didn't want to
have a lot of callers. Too easy for someone
to hit an Ace, King or Queen on the flop.
Well,
this wildman didn't let me draw. He raised
it to $60. Boom. He had a stack of $300
or so, having been playing for a while
when I sat down (and I guess he must have
been winning). I figured that he was either
bluffing or had a higher pair. I didn't
want to spend the rest of my stack by
calling his $40 raise and more on the
Turn and River to find out. I folded.
Very
next hand - I'm still in early position
and get A-Q spades. I raise to $15 - again
trying to thin the field and hoping not
to get much action. He calls me. Flop
is K-Q-9 no spades. I'm second pair top
kicker. I bet $30. He pushes all in (actually
it would have just set me all in to call
- he had a much larger stack.). I paused.
I thought a minute. Could he have started
with a King? Sure. K-T, K-J, even K-9
might be a calling hand. So would K-Q.
He could have had a pair of 9s? Or he
could have been making a ballsy bluff
raise. I folded again.
Two
of the next three hands he raised pre-flop
and won the pot. On the third hand he
folded pre-flop. Fourth hand someone raised;
he re-raised setting the initial player
all-in when he called. They turned over
their hand. The first player had a pair
of Queens. The wildman had A-8 suited.
He hit an Ace on the River to win the
hand.
His
play remained like this for about an hour.
He lost a couple of hands and may have
even conceded a few he had initially stabbed
at. But he normally won either uncontested
or by getting a nice turn or River. When
he showed down his hand he usually had
very speculative hands.
How
do you play against a guy like this? I've
developed a few techniques that have helped
me.
First
of all, a guy with this almost manic raising
style is very well suited to these typically
tight and passive low limit games. He
steals many, many blinds. He steals many
initial bets by timid players. And if
he is running good, as this player evidently
was when he was in my game, he can draw
some good hands and get a lot of action
- further enhancing image as a winning
player that people back away from in a
fight. So he has an air of invincibility
around him that is formidable.
But
there are counter measures. First of all,
let him lead. Since this player will frequently
initiate betting or raise action that
is before him you don't have to. You can
check into him, going for check raises
or even slowplays when you have a very
strong hand.
Second,
try to isolate him. You have to be careful
about this because you don't want to be
lured into playing truly substandard hands
for a lot of money just to get heads up
with him. But, on the other hand, if you
have a hand that you think is stronger
than what he is likely to hold, don't
be afraid to re-raise him to get it heads
up. Here's an example of what I mean.
It happened last night as well.
I
had a pair of powerful looking black Kings
in the large blind. Two players called
the $4.00 and he raised to $20.00. The
small blind called the $20.00. The action
was to me. I raised to $60. The wildman
just called and everyone else folded.
The turn brought 3-7-10 two suited. I
went all in. He called me. He had A-10.
The turn and the river were a 7 and a
Queen. I won.
A
few hands later, after I had picked up
another pot against another player who
ended up leaving, I had A-J of clubs in
late position. The wildman was in middle
position and raised to $12. I called,
as did two other players. The flop came
7-8-J with two clubs. Check to the wildman
who bets $40.00. I went all in. He called
and the other two players folded. He turned
over Q-7 of hearts. No Queen came on the
Turn and River and I took down a nice
pot. He left the game shortly thereafter
when he won a huge pot with three other
players, two of whom were all in.
So
don't be afraid of these guys all the
time. You can't always credit their aggressive
action to very big hands. But you can
usually count on them to call you when
they have committed a large amount already
to the pot.
Another consideration. These guys are
maniacs so they sometimes think other
players are maniacs. Yeah, it sounds hokey,
but I find that these guys can be goaded
into calling when you have a monster.
Really solid players will either ignore
the coffehousing or figure you out with
it. These guys often see in-your-face
type words as a gesture that they have
to answer with their chips.
So
let's say you have a pair of nines pre-flop,
the wildman raises five times the big
blind and you (and only you) call. The
flop hits you super hard with a 9-6-2.
Against normal opponents you'd slow play
this monster. But against the wildman
you can trap him by betting a small amount
if you're first, letting him raise, and
then coming in over the top with an all
in bet as if to say "in your face". More
often than not this guy isn't going to
back down and you've gotten all of his
chips. Same thing if he initiates the
bet. Just look at him, say, "let's see
your heart man" and throw all the chips
in. Expect a call.
One
last thing about wildman. Don't let them
throw you off your solid game. There's
a temptation, often hard to resist, to
play garbage against them - or to play
really aggressively without thinking about
other players. Either one could spell
a quick end to your stack. You've got
to pay attention to what other players
might have. And you can't just play junk
because he's wild. You won't have to have
the same standards as you would against
a tight/aggressive player, but you'll
still need to have some kind of a hand.
Wait for those opportunities when you
think you are strongly in the lead. It
may take extra patience as you see all
the chips that are flying around the table
when he's playing. But wait for the strong
hands before you try any of your own moves
against this guy.
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